Faster Friend
by BatboyBlogger
Summary: Tim Drake gets an unexpected guest to stay the night


Timothy Drake leapt from the top of the high wall at two in the morning onto the grounds of Gotham Academy for the Extraordinarily Gifted. GAEG is the kind of school you only get into if you're top of the class or your crazy rich. Luckily for Tim he's both, and The Red Robin. Ducking from shadow to shadow with his cape around him, Tim made his way to the Wayne dorm. Sliding around the side, he shot a rope up to the fifth floor, before he hit a button on the grappling hook gun and zipped up to the window in the top left of the dorm.

Crouching on the window ledge, he slipped his fingers into the small crack and slid the window open, pushing his upper body through into his room. Tim stepped out onto his bed, his eyes landing on his roommate Miles in the other bed. Miles' hair in the day time was a soft puffy afro around his head, but it was braided tightly into cornrows for the night. A single dorm room would have been better for crime fighting, but Tim needed this room. He'd hacked GAEG's computers to get it. There were a number of reasons, but the en suite bathroom was a big one. After a long night of crime fighting, the last thing he needed was to try to explain the bruises or stitches to a bunch of guys in a communal shower.

Another reason was that on the top floor, no one really bothered with bed checks, while Miles helped with that too. Tim easily could have assigned the boy to a different dorm, but Miles was the only student in GAEG who was in a wheelchair, and this was the most modern, handicapped accessible room on campus. He wasn't about to throw a kid out like that, plus Babs would murder him if she ever heard, so he'd tried to sneak around behind his roommate's back. The problem was that Miles wasn't one of the rich kids, he was one of the smart ones, and in a few years the Ivy League would have a bidding war over him. Add to that he didn't get out of the room much for anything other than class, as he'd joke being black and crippled didn't make you friends at prep school, and he was a total insomniac, Tim only lasted six months before he was caught red-handed. Miles cracked a eye open and looked at Tim as he stood on the floor between their beds pulling off his mask.

"Your boyfriend is here," he said, his voice thick with sleep.

Tim turned toward the bathroom, noticing the light under the door ' _Kon?_ ' he thought to himself. The door to the bathroom flew open and before Tim knew what was happening his was flat on his back with some one on top of him. Bart Allen's face, surrounded and partly covered by a massive nimbus of brown wavy hair, seemed to blink into existence a few inches from his own.

"Hi Tim!" Bart blurted, a huge goofy smile breaking his face open and his golden eyes dancing: "Your room is so cool dude! Like so big bigger than mine at home! Total no fair, I'm like so jealous. And you have your OWN bathroom! I have to share with Max AND Helen! I mean I love Max and Helen, but dude your bathroom is bigger and I bet you don't have to clean it yourself, Tommy Dork!"

Tim just had to smile, as it seemed like Bart was totally unaware he was sitting on Tim's chest and was speaking a mile a minute. "I mean man I knew you were loaded man but this is so posh gov!"

Tim slowly reached up and brushed the hair out of Bart's face ducking it behind his ears ' _thank god they stick out so much_ ' he thought as Bart didn't to even seem to notice and just kept talking with no break for breath. "I mean I guess you have to share with the roommate, HIIII Tim's Roomie!" with this he turned in a blur of motion to wave way to fast at Miles who just groaned and pulled a pillow over his head. Bart turned back just as fast to Tim, "nice guy, he let me have his pop-tarts." Bart did his best to whisper which was basically the same as his normal voice, "think he'll mind if I eat all of them?"

Miles sat straight up in bed, "what? There were 7 boxes dude, where do you put them? You're tiny!"

Bart totally ignored him, "Oh dude, does he know you're like Red Robin? Oh my God Timmy I'm SO sorry did I just blow your cover! Oh no oh no, um um, we can get the Martian Manhunter to wipe his memory right? Oh that guy creeps me out big time!"

"Wipe my memory! The fuck, dude!"

"Bart, he knows."

"Oh cool… sorry about that mind wipe thing dude, and thanks for the pop-tarts that I totally didn't eat all of." Bart gave Miles a shaky smile before turning back to Tim, "Tim you're like so lucky to live on your own this place is great you have a VIEW! All I can see out my window is the stupid backyard, _boring!_ "

"Bart…"

"And your bed, so soft, like what is the thread count, I tried to count it but got bored after like a second, so long counting"

"Bart!"

"Max was a total grump today, you're like so lucky not to deal with the whole parent thing every day. I mean I love Max but like maybe just see him on weekends am I right?"

"BART!"

"Oh yeah Timmy?"

"First, let me up so I can change-"

"Only if I get to watch!"

"Perv."

"Hey now, I'm a very healthy and normal 31st century boy," he said, his eyes wide and tossing his hair slightly as he pulled Tim up to his feet.

"And second, Bart, why are you here?" Tim said as he pulled his shirt up over his head.

"Oh, I was bored and wanted to come hang out."

Tim arched an eyebrow, "at 2am, Bart?"

Bart looked sheepish and shuffled his big feet back and forth

"Well, maybe… I had a bad dream, can I stay with you tonight?"

Bart lived in Alabama and Gotham was in southern New Jersey but to the World's fastest boy it was like running next door, Tim thought. Bart looked at him plaintively, Tim sighed thinking how his friend was one of the only people who could beat Superman in a foot race, but in a lot of ways he was a little kid.

Tim sat on his bed to pull on some sweat pants, "sure you can stay here Bart, you remember pajamas?"

Bart slapped his palm to his forehead. Tim called out, "Don't forget-", but Bart was already gone, then back holding a set of red PJs with yellow lighting blots all over them, "-your toothbrush."

Bart made an embarrassed sound and was gone, then back holding a novelty Flash toothbrush and kid's flavored toothpaste that was proudly labeled "Flash Strawberry Red!" In a blur, Bart changed into his pajamas and hit the bathroom for his teeth. Tim, Bart and Miles spent the next hour talking complaining about homework, and parents, talking about girls for Miles, boys for Tim and both girls and boys for Bart. Tim knew that Bart had two modes, go and crash, and about an hour latter Bart crushed hard. Tim picked up his skinny friend's legs and tucked him into bed before crawling over him to get into bed too. He wrapped his arms around Bart from behind and rested his head on Bart's shoulder, brushing the smaller boy's hair out of his face. He made eye contact across the room with Miles who was smirking at him, "not one word."

"Oh dude, I'm totally sending a snap catch of this moment to your other boyfriend."

"Oh shut up."

Miles' face became serious, "dude don't you think it's a little messed up a superhero needs to sleep in your bed because he had a bad dream?"

Tim paused, involuntarily pulling Bart a little closer to himself, "we all have nightmares, Miles; Bart's just the only one of us brave enough to confess how bad they get. He can be a kid and a dork some times, but there's no one I trust more to save the world than Bart."


End file.
